Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

, Volume 16, Issue 1, pp 65–78 | Cite as

Some fundamental remarks on the polarographic determination of the catalase activity and the H2O2 production of bacteria

  • B. S. Aussen
  • T. Y. Kingma Boltjes
  • B. S. J. Wöstmann
Article
Received:

Conclusions and summary

1. Oxygen has two polarographic waves of equal height (h.w.p. −0.05 V and −1.07 V), which disturb the direct polarographic determination of H2O2.

2. In determining H2O2 it is possible to eliminate this disturbance by reducing the total height of the waves by 2 × the height of the first O2 wave.

3. In a decomposing H2O2 solution the O2 concentration exceeds more than 5 × the normal O2 concentration in an aqueous solution.

4. In a decomposing H2O2 solution the H2O2 concentration at each moment can only be determined by taking into account the O2 concentration at that moment.

5. Determination without this correction presents too small a catalase activity and may even result in characterising catalase positive bacteria as catalase negative.

6. It is possible to demonstrate the H2O2 production of catalase negative bacteria by the polarographic method.

Keywords

Oxygen H2O2 Aqueous Solution Catalase Catalase Activity 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Literature

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    I. M. Kolthoff andC. S. Miller, J. Am. Chem. Soc.63, 1013, 1941.Google Scholar
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    J. M. Kolthoff andJ. J. Lingane, Polarography. 1941, 1946.Google Scholar
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    Ibid. p. 250.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Swets en Zeitlinger 1950

Authors and Affiliations

  • B. S. Aussen
  • T. Y. Kingma Boltjes
  • B. S. J. Wöstmann

There are no affiliations available

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